A Stitch In Time Saves Everybody
by Dr. Magic PhD
Summary: Season 1 Finale of the 'Complete' series: The brothers face a whole horde of problems, supernatural and natural, all piling up on top of each other. Can they handle the pressure?
1. A Day In The Life Of A Witch

_Well, here we go! It's the seventh episode of the 'Complete' series, and y'all know what that means…this is the SEASON FINALE! I'm so excited to get to post this one. I got the idea from a story I read a while ago and thought it would be kinda nice to put my characters in that situation. Hopefully, y'all will like it! And hopefully…this is the story that will get the most reviews, since y'all's reviews are so very very important to me!_

_Before it starts, I just wanna comment that these three brothers have been through a lot of tough times during their freshman (Jimmy's sophomore) year of college. In fact, it's a lot more than anyone else would be able to imagine. Look back at the past six stories to catch up on some things y'all might be a little shady about!_

* * *

The end of the semester was at hand for the students at Oxford College of Emory University. Classes were finally over, but that only meant that final exams were just around the river bend, so to speak. In just a few short days, the sophomores would be transferring from Oxford, the two-year division of the University, to Emory University itself, which was located just outside downtown Atlanta, Georgia, in a suburb called Decatur. Moving from Oxford to Emory was a normal transition; Oxford was the more academic intensive subdivision of Emory University. Only a total of around six hundred sophomores and freshmen were accepted into Oxford; the rest began their college careers on the Emory campus.

But as prestigious as Oxford College seemed, it did have its share of cons. Most importantly to the students, it was nestled in the middle of a town also called Oxford. Oxford, Georgia was in the middle of nowhere. It was the country. Although the sky was much clearer at night, it might have been because no one ever spent a night on the town in Oxford. The Oxford students found themselves commuting to larger neighboring cities or more commonly, to Atlanta during the weekends. In other words, Oxford College was nice, but a very quiet campus compared to its much larger counterpart.

On Oxford's campus, three of the students were making their own list of pros and cons. But the list had much more to do with _them_ than the pitfalls of the college, although at times they seemed to intertwine with each other.

James Armstrong, Matthew Hart, and Wesley Williams were these three students. Over the course of the year, they had gone through many of the trials and tribulations that were the norm for most college students. However, one thing set them apart from every other person in the school. They were witches. Not the Halloween variety-type, though. They were actual witches, people born with supernatural abilities. Since becoming witches, they had used these magical powers to ward off any evil that came their way.

Moreover, not only were they witches, but the Complete, the three legendary most powerful witches the world would ever know. This added title caused only the most vile and vicious of evils to interfere with their struggle to balance college life with the supernatural.

And if that were not enough, they were all brothers, despite the fact that while James and Matthew were Caucasian, Wesley was African-American! A strange, yet rather unique chain of events had led them to be given up for adoption and end up reuniting in college. Although the three had come from three completely different walks of life, destiny forced them together, making them readjust their lives to be compatible with each other.

"I already told you two that I'm _not_ staying here another year!" James said loudly to his brothers. "I'm not gonna flunk! That's the dumbest idea I've heard all day."

"Well then how are we supposed to fight evil on a regular basis?" Wesley asked. "With you forty miles away, we'll be way out of commission, and not to mention very open to attack!"

"The reason we're so powerful," Matthew added, "is because we're all here…together. We're strongest that way. You leaving is in effect making us less powerful."

"A lot less powerful," Wesley chimed in. "We won't have our power of three thing anymore."

"Listen," James said. "I know everything y'all have just told me. I'm not stupid. But, remember what Mom said? She said that 'everything happens for a reason.' If I was supposed to stay here, then I would. But I'm not, so I won't. Don't worry about me, it makes me feel uncomfortable. We'll manage; we always do at the end of the day."

"This is different," Wesley claimed. "This could potentially be life threatening."

"Look at it this way," James said. "Since we became witches, it's like everything we've gone through has just been a series of tests, right? Well, maybe this is just one more test."

"More like a final exam," Wesley commented.

"Matt," James said, looking to the middle brother, "what do you think? You're the rational one."

"I think," Matthew said slowly, then quickly as he saw something appear behind James, "that you need to get down!"

James didn't need to ask anything else; he had been through enough of these situations to know what Matthew meant. He quickly dropped to the ground as a demon slashed the air that James had just been occupying. Matthew quickly ran towards him and leapt over James, extending both his feet while in the air. He connected fully and sent the demon hurtling into a wall. Just before the demon hit the wall, though, it stopped in motion. Matthew turned to see Wesley standing there with his hands outstretched.

"Why did you freeze him?" Matthew asked.

"Because he would've made a hole in the wall," Wesley answered, "AGAIN! I can't keep dippin' into my funds to repair stuff like this. I'm just a poor black man tryin' to make it in the world today!"

"Enough with the drama," James said, now standing up.

He quickly made his way to his drawer, opening the top one. He pulled out the athame that had been given to him and his brothers by John, the constantly mysterious Guardian. The athame had always been used by forces of both good and evil as supernatural implements. Evil beings had used them for ritual sacrifices and for killing good witches to acquire their powers. Forces of good, however, kept them mostly as special sacred artifacts, but could also use them to quickly vanquish weaker demons and warlocks.

James roughly grabbed the demon by the neck and plunged the athame into his stomach, breaking Wesley's freeze. He held the demon firmly in place not allowing any room for movement on the demon's part. As much as he thrashed about, howling in pain, the demon found himself stuck in James' vice-like grip.

"Who sent you?" James asked, receiving silence from the demon.

"Please excuse my brother," Wesley cut in. "He likes to play good cop bad cop a lot. What he means is this: we've been bein' attacked a lot more than usual now for some reason. We all have our own lives to live, but every time we try to do that, y'all come bustin' in and ruin everything. Why is that?"

"I'm not telling you anything, _witches_!" the demon spat.

"You sure about that?" Matthew asked. "You're not exactly in the best position to be defiant, pal."

"I'd rather die than betray the Council," the demon cried.

"You need to think about what…" Wesley said, but he was too late.

James had driven the magical dagger even deeper into the demon's stomach, killing him. The demon, upon dying, vanished in a small conflagration, which shrank away into nothing. The athame glowed brightly for a brief second before returning to normal. James casually walked back to his drawer and replaced the athame.

"What did you do that for?" Wesley asked. "I was still talking to him."

"You heard him," James replied. "He said he wasn't gonna say another word. You're too nice, Shorty."

"Don't call me that," Wesley said. "And I'm not too nice, am I, Matt?"

"You are," Matthew answered quickly. "But you know, don't worry about it. That's your 'thing.' You're the one who's too nice."

"Where is all this coming from?" Wesley asked.

* * *

_And we're off! The first chapter of the SEASON FINALE is over and done! Things seem pretty routine, except for the fact that Jimmy has to leave Oxford at the end of the year, which is just days away. What's gonna happen? There's probably a lot more, so be sure to come back later (but not after you've taken that extra minute to review…thanx!)._


	2. Eavesdropping

_I'm gonna apologize for the shortness of this chapter ahead of time. I guess I got so caught up with starting this one that I made the first chapter too long and this one too short! Don't worry, though…it's not like this is the last chapter or anthing!_

_**Quillsandbolts: **Hey! I missed you! I was wonderin' if you had deserted me, but if you said that you read the last story, then I believe you (just wish you would've reviewed…). Anyway, I also somewhat think of us all as some kind of squad/team/group/circle/clique/etc.. Kinda weird, huh?_

_**chyp:** When are you gonna put up another chapter on your story? Some of us are waiting… And thanx for reviewing as usual._

* * *

In another realm, in a dimly lit chamber, the five members of the Council were hard at work, concocting the ultimate plan that would finally end in success. It was a plan that was foolproof; they had managed to think of every possible outcome and had accordingly adjusted for any discrepancies. As they discussed this scheme, a warlock materialized into their chamber.

He was of average height, roughly six feet. He appeared to be in his early twenties, with short, blond hair and deep blue eyes. Despite the coloration of his face, he still maintained many dark features about him. Although his eyes were blue, they were very shifty. His demeanor was questionable. He had those stereotypical "evil" characteristics that distinguished him from normal people.

"You summoned me?" he asked in an almost indecipherable British accent.

"Yes, Selim," Tenebrion, one of the Council members, said.

"Please," the warlock said insisted, "call me Miles."

"_Miles_," Anamalech, another Council member said, "we have chosen you to carry out our plan to destroy the Complete."

"The Complete?" Miles asked. "The most powerful witches in the world? Going against them is surely suicide, and I'm not even that powerful."

"How powerful would you rate yourself?" Ardad asked.

"Slightly above average," Miles replied hesitantly.

"That will suffice," Andras responded. "Your mission is not to destroy the Complete, per se, but to distract them."

"It will be your job," Mastiphal continued, "to be the one who drives them over the edge. You see, we have been bombarding them with many lower-level demons and warlocks to wear them down. It seems that they are dealing with a lot of issues at the moment, which provides the greatest opportunity for us."

"And we must capitalize on it," Ardad added. "We are sensing a great deal of stress and mixed emotions from each of them, which in effect is weakening them as well. With your arrival, you will be the proverbial 'straw that breaks the camel's back.' You will push them to make a grievous mistake."

"One that will lead to their own destruction," Tenebrion said. "Prepare yourself, Miles, for when you succeed, you will be greatly rewarded with power you cannot begin to imagine."

"But you must wait for our call," Mastiphal warned. "Do not attack until we call on you to do so, otherwise everything we have worked for may be lost."

"I understand," Miles said, bowing slightly. Then he snapped both his fingers and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After the warlock left, the Council members began to proceed to the next step in their plan. They began to weave a spell that would form the foundation of it all; the destruction of the Complete.

But, from her secret hiding place, Lina could hear everything that was going on. She had heard all about their plan to destroy the Complete. She had heard everything that the Council had told Miles. This time, however, she was experiencing mixed emotions about what to do next. On the one hand, she believed that if she told the brothers about the plan being conspired against them, she might be able to convince James that her intentions are in fact good and driven by love. On the other hand, a small part of her wanted to exact some type of revenge on James and his brothers for banding together to essentially dump her. She had never been dumped before; the thought of it made her more angry than depressed. Still not having decided, she disappeared from the chamber in a flame.

"Did you sense that?" Andras asked the other members.

"Yes," Ardad answered. "I felt another presence in this room…"

* * *

_Ugh, just when you thought that she was out of the picture! That crazy girl is like Freddy Krueger; she always comes back. But I'll see what I can do about that… Coming up in the next chapter: Wesley is forced to deal with his suppressed issues, while the Council fools a fool…_


	3. Revelations

_Wow! I got a good feelin' about this story! 7 reviews for 2 chapters! That's like some kind of record…for me… I saw a story on here that got over 1000 reviews! I didn't even know that was possible! Oh well…_

_**Raya X: **I wrote the story, and I found myself throwin' popcorn at the screen, too! Ain't that a trip? Yeah, Lina is old news, as well as bad news, and we all know what happens to bad old news…_

_**chyp: **My bad, kid. I saw that you put up another chapter soon after I read your review. Good luck in school, meanwhile. You're at the home stretch, so give it your best shot!_

_**Pyrena: **To quote a well known writer also on here, "Welcome!" I'm glad you're enjoyin' my stories as much as I'm enjoying yours! Truthfully, the Council really is bad news and they're never up to any good. And believe it or not, Lina is, in fact, back. I told y'all the chick was like Freddy Krueger; she just always comes back…_

* * *

"_Magic forces far and wide,  
Hear my plea, hear my cry.  
I call to he who guards my kind;  
In him, the truth I need resides."_

White swirls filled the air around Wesley. He had made sure no one else was around to see what he was doing. Matthew and James had gone out to see a movie in order to relieve some stress, while Wesley had claimed that he wasn't feeling too well. He blamed it on the dinner.

The swirls soon faded, leaving a man in their place. The man looked very perplexed, as if the summoning spell Wesley had said surprised him. Wesley stared at him with an interrogative expression on his face, letting the man know that he wanted answers…now. Deciding on his better judgment, the man sighed and sat down to talk.

"You didn't have to force me here," the man said. "All you had to do was call."

"Don't start that, John," Wesley said. "I know how you like to ignore people. But listen, I got a lot of things goin' on here. Jimmy's gonna leave at the end of the year to go to the main campus. Me and Matt are gonna be left here alone. Everything's being taken away from me, and with all the finals and crap that are happening as well, at the least I deserve some good news. I need you tell me the truth. I need the truth about me."

"Well," John said waveringly.

"And don't give me any of that 'I don't know' stuff, either," Wesley quickly added. "I know you know because you know me. And if you know me, which you do, because I know you, then you know that I know you know something and you know that if I wanna find out something, then I'm gonna find it out, no matter what. You know what I mean?"

"I know you watch TV too much," John answered. "Look, as stubborn as your…_you_…are, I can be just as stubborn. I can't tell you anything you don't already know that's related to what you want to know. I've been sworn to secrecy and I don't intend on breaking that pact, not even for you. All I can tell you is that you'll find out on your own, the way it's supposed to be."

"Dammit!" Wesley shouted in frustration. "Why is it such a big deal? Is finding out gonna change my whole life? Will it mess with my head or something? All I need is a name."

"No," John said defiantly.

"Is that your final answer?" Wesley asked, with a slightly threatening edge in his voice.

"Yes," John said firmly.

"Fine," Wesley said, "but you brought this on yourself."

Wesley flicked his hands in John's direction to freeze him. John stopped moving instantly. Wesley looked in the Book of Light again, making sure that he knew the spell word for word. He didn't need to mess things up. Before he could get the first word out, John had grabbed him from behind, holding his hands behind his back.

"You can't freeze me," John said, "but since you're being so stubborn about this, then come with me."

John and Wesley disappeared in a shower of white lights.

* * *

"Now is the perfect time," Miles said, having appeared inside the Council's chamber moments before. "All three of them are off guard and unsuspecting. Should I attack now?"

"No," Mastiphal answered. "It is not yet the right time. Just because they are not together does not mean that they are any less of a threat."

"Individually, they are still the most powerful witches of their time," Andras added, "whether they know it or not."

"But come closer," Tenebrion insisted. "We want to show you something. Something that may satisfy you until it is time for you to attack."

"What is it?" Miles asked, approaching apprehensively.

"It is _this_," Ardad replied, quickly extending his hand out towards Miles.

Suddenly, Miles was lifted high into the air, his entire body being electrocuted as it hung suspended. Miles screamed in agony and pain, but all of his yelling was in vain; he was in a place where nothing else could hear. As the electricity flowed through his body, Miles slowly transformed into what he really was. As soon as the change had taken place, Ardad released his hold and the body slumped to the ground, still alive, but just barely.

"Do you think we are stupid?" Tenebrion asked.

"Demons and warlocks under our command do not question our judgment," Anamalech said. "It was you who was here earlier, was it not?"

"Why is it that you would choose to betray the very ones who made you what you are?" Mastiphal asked. "Do you not know that betraying us means death?"

"What do you have to say for yourself before you die?" Tenebrion asked.

"Just that," Lina said slowly, through much panting, "you'll never kill me!"

Still smoking from the punishment she had just endured, she gathered the remaining strength she had left and concentrated all of her energy into a blast of green power that she shot at the nearest target, in her case Tenebrion. It struck him dead on and he was violently thrown from his chair, flying over the entire table and slamming into a stone wall. Before any of the other Council members could retaliate, Lina was gone in a bright flame.

* * *

_How odd! Wesley's got some personal issues? The Council knows about Lina? John's actin' all interventional? Who knows?_


	4. A Time For Mourning

_My friend came to visit me in Japan, so I don't have much time to be doin' much of anything right now, so I'ma apologize and just send a big ol' thanx to all the folks who reviewed the last chapter, as well as the ones before! Let's hurry and get into the story!_

* * *

"Where are we?" Wesley asked, looking around. It looked like he and John were in some sort of burial ground. It also looked vaguely familiar. "Wait a minute, is this…?"

"This is where you and your brothers buried Lauren and Erik," John answered. "You remember, right?"

"Yeah," Wesley said. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You are obviously holding back a lot of emotional pain and frustration," John said. "You need to let it out now, before it consumes you."

"What?" Wesley asked, finding John's words quite comical. "I'm as together as I've always been. I'm fine. Where is all that coming from?"

"I know that you _think_ that you feel fine," John explained, "but you're really hiding some heavy emotional baggage that you need to let go. Just talk. I promise that you'll feel a lot better about things. I'll leave you alone. When you're done, just call me."

John disappeared from the scene in his usual white lights, leaving Wesley alone and standing in front of his birth mother's gravesite. He had a confused look on his face; as far as he could tell, he was perfectly fine. He didn't feel like he was harboring any kind of emotional stress. All he wanted was to find out who he really came from? Was that too much to ask? Given everything he had gone through over the past year, didn't he deserve at least a little bit of information that would help him out?

For a long time, he just stood silent, not speaking, only thinking. He thought about the very brief time that he had talked to Lauren, his birth mother. He thought about the horrible way in which she and her husband died. All of this kept running through his mind, but it still had no connection to his actual father.

Then it hit him. His 'obsession' over finding his father was an extension of his grief over losing his mother. It hit him as powerfully as a ton of bricks. Come to think of it, he had never really showed any emotion at the funeral that he and his brothers had held for them. He hated the idea of death; it scared him. Maybe he was scared that death might come a lot sooner since he was now a witch. He still refused to talk. He only knelt down in front of Lauren's grave, thinking about the few times they had been able to interact. It made him sad that he had taken those times for granted. Slowly, his eyes watered and overflowed; tears were silently streaming from his eyes as he finally felt the grief he had missed nine months ago. It was then that he realized that him wanting to find his true father was based around the fact that he didn't want to lose him like he did Lauren.

* * *

"That was a good movie," Matthew commented as he and James returned to Oxford.

"It was alright," James opinionated, "but I liked the first one better."

"The first one was good," Matthew said. "This was better. You think they'll do a spin-off movie with the Scorpion King?"

"Probably," James said. "It's all about sequels and spin-offs these days. I wouldn't be surprised if they made _The Scorpion King_ and released it later this year."

"Who knows," Matthew said, noticing the Book on the table. "Did you leave the Book here, open on the table?"

"No," James said. "Where's Wes?"

"He just couldn't handle himself," Matthew said, pointing to the open page. "It's a spell to summon someone who knows the truth."

"Truth about what?" James asked.

"Don't you know?" Matthew replied. "He's been ranting about who his father is for the longest time now. I think we've just been distracted by all the demons."

"Why couldn't he just leave well enough alone?" James sighed. "I'll have to kill him."

"Get real," Matthew said. "Apparently, the spell must have taken him somewhere. I'm guessing that he won't get back until he finds what he's looking for. In the meantime, I've got something to show you."

"What is it?" James asked.

"It's something I've been working on," Matthew explained. "You know how when there's a demon or something we always have to find a spell or use the athame or make a potion? Well, I think I found a way for my power to become a little more offensive."

"How?" James asked. "All you can do is phase."

"Well then I guess you won't mind volunteering yourself," Matthew said. "Just make a clone of yourself and stand back."

* * *

"I'm so sorry," Wesley continued, having finally opened his mouth to speak. "It's just been so hard for me to adjust to this whole new life and all. I guess it started with my adoptive family. My parents divorced when I was young and I never had a chance to see my father then. When I found out that he died it really tore me up. I had been mad at him for so long, I never thought that I would miss him so much.

"Now it's like everything's happening all over again in reverse. I have you and someone who's my father, but you two weren't together and now you're…here and he's I don't know where. I don't even know if he's alive, but I like to think that he is, you know? But if he wants to know me, why hasn't he come to me? Am I that big of a secret? Or does he just not want anything to do with me? And everybody's saying that it's not time to know, but I think that after all I've gone through, I deserve to know.

"It's just not fair. I have this second chance to actually know my father, but once again, it seems like he doesn't feel the same way. Will we ever meet?"

Having let out all of his frustrations, he hastily realized that John was right. He had been talking for the past two hours and although he still had the same unanswered questions, he did feel a lot better about himself and his life overall. Things all of a sudden felt a lot calmer in his mind. He felt more at peace with himself. He called John.

"Two hours," John commented, appearing in front of Wesley. "I thought you died or something. What took you so long?"

"I had a lot on my mind," Wesley said. "Which brings me to this: what exactly do you call that disappearing act you do? I call it 'blinding.'"

"Funny," John said. "Good to see you still have your humor. Actually, it's called 'glimmering.' You know, on account of the glimmering lights."

"At least it has a name," Wesley said as he and John glimmered out.

* * *

_Touching, huh? Well, since time is of the essence in my world right now, I'll skip ahead to what's comin' up next… Matthew shows James his new method of vanquishing the bad guys, but will it prove useful?_


	5. From The Inside Out

_Wow! I got more reviews! Good job, everybody! And sorry I didn't comment on each person last time. Like I said before, my friend came to visit me for a week here in Japan and I was pretty busy showin' her all the sights and stuff. But unfortunately, she's gone now… But fortunately, I'm back to the story! While I was on hiatus I got a couple of good ideas for this story, so I'm changin' it around a little bit, but hopefully it'll still be to y'all's liking!_

_**chyp: **Thanx._

_**Quillsandbolts:** Yeah, 'glimmering' was the only thing I could come up with at the time, and then it just kinda stuck. I hope nobody else is using it! You're not, are you?_

_**Raya X: **Poor Wesley has a lot of issues, I'm afraid. In fact, real Wesley probably has a few of his own, but I won't tell anybody's business… And heavens no, don't scream! You'll find out about Wesley's heritage when it happens…_

* * *

James concentrated and created a clone of himself. He found that it was becoming progressively easier to create clones while still maintaining his own self, although it was still draining. The real James sat at his chair and the clone stood in the middle of the room. Matthew suddenly became transparent and walked right into James' clone, disappearing inside him. The clone started shaking uncontrollably and finally exploded, leaving a re-solidified Matthew standing in its place. The real James, however wasn't too pleased initially. He had fallen onto the floor, frantically searching his body for signs of injury. He had just felt the sensation of being stung by hundreds of bees, in every conceivable place.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Matthew asked, helping James off the ground. "You're okay."

"That might not have been the real me," James said, "but it still hurt!"

"That was just gravy," Matthew said. "How do you like my power_ now_?"

"I hate it," James said, still checking his body. He still felt some pain, although most of it had subsided.

Wesley arrived in the room in a shower of blue lights. However, John was not with him. Without John's expert glimmering ability, Wesley materialized above James and roughly fell on him, knocking both of them to the floor. Matthew jumped back before Wesley fell. Wesley slowly got back up, rubbing his head. James, meanwhile, stood up and pushed Wesley away abruptly. Matthew caught his little brother just before he was about to fall again.

"What the hell was that?" James asked.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Wesley claimed. "I was with John, and halfway here he told me that he had to go and he left me on my own. I barely even know that I can do this glimmering thing, and now he leaves me to go it alone! I'm lucky I made it here! Actually, I think the momentum just kinda threw me here."

"Where have you been?" Matthew asked. "We got here and we saw that the Book had been opened up and you were just gone."

"Don't you know to not play with magic without supervision?" James asked.

"Sorry, _dad_," Wesley said sarcastically. "I was busy. I had some issues to handle."

"What kind?" Matthew asked.

"Just your average everyday type," Wesley answered. "But it's over now. So, how was _The Mummy Returns_?"

"Pretty good," James said, "even though the first one was better. Speaking of that, Matt performed some scary stuff not too long ago."

"It was great," Matthew said. "What I did was, I had Jimmy make a clone of himself, you know, to practice on, then I phased into the clone and exploded it from the inside. Cool, huh?"

"Interesting," Wesley said, rubbing his chin, "but I don't really get it."

"I'll show you," Matthew said. "Jimmy, make another clone."

"No way!" James shouted. "I'm not gettin' hit with that again! You'll have to wait on the next demon to come along."

As James mentioned the word 'demon,' a bright flame appeared inside James' dorm room, in the center of the three brothers. The flame disappeared and Lina fell to the floor, completely exhausted. James instinctively caught her before she hit the ground, but after receiving disapproving stares from both of his brothers, he just gently lay her on the floor.

"What happened to you?" James asked. "You look like hell."

"She _is_ hell, Jimmy," Wesley said. "And you need to be askin' what she's doin' here in the first place."

"I didn't come for any trouble," Lina said, making herself more comfortable on the floor. "I just came to warn you all. The Council's about to make their next move. They have a plan that supposedly will take all three of you out, one by one. Be on the lookout for a warlock named…"

Another demon suddenly blinked into the room, poised for action. Instead of attacking the brothers, though, it went straight for Lina, who was still on the floor. The demon lunged at her, extending its razor sharp claws, when suddenly it was thrown across the room by James' power. The demon picked itself up and attacked again, carrying on as if it had never been thrown at all. Wesley gestured and the demon froze.

"Not again," James sighed. "Don't bring your friends into my room, Lina. They're not wanted around here, and neither are you, no matter what your intentions are."

Slowly, the demon twisted and turned, forcing itself out of suspended animation. James waved his hand again, but this time, it had no effect. He tried again and again, but still, the demon advanced. Wesley also tried to freeze it, but apparently the demon had adapted to both his and James' powers; it was now immune to them. The demon clawed at Wesley, who was closest. Its three claws slashed deep into Wesley's arm, creating three large scars that began dripping blood. It attacked again and caught James in the chest, not only ripping his shirt, but managing to draw blood as well.

It turned to Matthew, who was standing next to Lina. He became transparent and cautiously walked towards the demon. He covered his face as the demon violently slashed at him. Thankfully, his power held up against the enemy and the demon's hand traveled right through him. Matthew, relieved, ran and jumped into the demon's body. Wesley watched in disbelief, while James smiled a little. The demon stopped moving and started shaking uncontrollably. Then, it simply burst open, leaving Matthew standing in its place. Matthew was covered in purple slime and pieces of the demon's skin.

"That's the thing he does," James explained to Wesley as they both clapped and laughed.

"To the showers with you," Wesley said.

"I hadn't planned on _that_," Matthew said, breathing deeply. "I feel really weak, though. I think that doing it twice in one day isn't the best idea."

"To the showers with you," James repeated. "I don't want demon blood on my stuff."

"Fine," Matthew said, "but one of you has to help me. I'm too weak to move."

"Well," James said to Wesley, "you better hurry up."

"Why me?" Wesley asked. "_You_ do it."

"We can fight for it," James said.

"You mean _flip_ for it," Wesley said.

"Either way," James said menacingly.

With a twist of his finger, James telekinetically flipped Wesley upside down so that he was hanging in the air by his feet. He laughed before landing his brother on the floor. Wesley fell with a small thud.

"I hate you," Wesley said as he helped Matthew out of the room.

* * *

_Hell, I'd hate him, too! How unfair to use one's powers in such a way, don't y'all think? Jimmy's really got it comin' to him, 'cuz we all know what they say about karma, right?_


	6. Send In The Clown

_Thanx, as usual, to all those who took the time to review the story! To all y'all other non-reviewers, I'll just pray for y'all…_

_**Raya X: **A very comprehensive list you have there, don't you think? I agree with all four, though._

_**chyp:** Have fun camping, chyp. I hate camping myself. I'd like it if it weren't for the 40 pounds of crap I have to carry with me. It was horrible, but don't let my experiences creep into yours._

* * *

"Listen," James said to Lina, "I respect your intentions, but you're kinda making this harder than it has to be." 

"Can't we at least talk about it like adults?" Lina asked.

"I'm afraid not," a voice echoed throughout the room in a thick British accent.

"Who said that?" James said, taking up a defensive posture.

"I did," the voice replied. In a flash of light, the warlock Miles appeared. "Did you like that intro, or how about this one?"

Miles snapped his fingers and disappeared. Then the echoing voice boomed, "I did!" Small fireworks exploded inside the room. The entertaining light display faded to reveal Miles standing there.

"What about that?" Miles asked. "I think that one was better."

"Who the hell are you?" James asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am," Miles replied. "I've come for this pretty young lady here. I'm afraid she knows too much. She'll ruin everything, you know. Can't have that happen."

Miles snapped his finger and a gag appeared around Lina's mouth. She immediately tried to take it off, but the gag shocked both her hands. With another snap of Miles' fingers, her hands and feet became bound by ropes.

"And now," Miles announced, "it's time for the show! I have with me my lovely assistant, bound and gagged as this trick requires her to be. I'm sure you've seen this done a million times already, but let me show you how it's supposed to be done."

Miles clapped his hands twice and Lina disappeared, reappearing in a large box that hung in the air. James just stared in utter confusion. Lina's head stuck out of one side, while her feet stuck out of the other side. If James didn't know any better, he would swear that this person was going to saw her in half! Finally, James made up his mind, deciding against his better judgment. He waved his hand and Miles flew across the room, slamming into the door. James went to open the box, but to his surprise it was bolted shut. Nothing he did could get the box open. Miles gruffly brushed himself off.

"It'll do to have no interruptions during my act, thank you very much," he said. "Besides, a magician never reveals his secrets."

"Same here," James said.

James motioned with his finger and the athame flew out of his drawer, directed at Miles. Miles caught the dagger between his hands, covering it completely. When he opened his hands, a dove flew out of them. He grabbed the dove, covered it in his hands again, and mumbled a few words to himself. He opened his hands and the athame reappeared in his hand. He threw it at James, but while in midair it separated into many knives. With a snap of his finger, Miles caused a large circular board to appear behind James. James slammed into it, while the knives pinned him to it, rendering him unable to move.

"I'll accept that we'll have no further interruptions, then," Miles said.

"What is all this noise?" Wesley asked, opening the door. His jaw was just inches from the floor as he witnessed the scene. "Matt! Get in here!"

"Oh, bollocks!" Miles said as Matthew peeked his head into the room. "We'll meet again, folks!"

Miles snapped his fingers and he was gone. The board behind James disappeared, the knives disappeared, the box around Lina disappeared, and her restraints disappeared as well.

"Do we even need to ask?" Matthew asked. "I was just about to get in the shower."

"Trouble," James said. "We got somebody who has a Houdini complex."

* * *

_I bet y'all never saw that comin', did y'all? I didn't see it myself! That Miles character is quite a card…the joker! I just made that up on the spot, I swear! Anyway, things are about to get a lot more crazy as the next chapter unfolds, so stay tuned!_


	7. Once A Bitch, Always A Bitch

_This is it! The lucky seventh chapter of the seventh story! That's gotta be some sort of sign, don't y'all think? Anyway, thanx to everyone who's readin' my stories! Y'all make this old man happy! I especially wanna give shout outs to:_

_**chyp: **Thanx for your review…"thrilling" indeed._

_**Raya X: **I'm assuming you're gonna review this one, since you've never let me down, or because I've kinda cajoled you into it…but thanx anyway! I can always count on you!_

* * *

"Here he is," James said, pointing out Miles' picture in the Book of Light. "Selim, a Trickster. It says that 'Tricksters are warlocks who exploit sideshow magic and use it as a method of offense. Although they are low-level demons, they are still considered powerful. However, they are often consumed with performing their tricks.' Good, there's a vanquishing spell here. It's a Complete Spell, so the three of us need to read it."

"A Complete Spell for a low-level demon?" Matthew asked. "That's strange."

"It's probably just to make sure," Wesley speculated.

"He goes by Miles," Lina said from a distance. "He says it's easier on the tongue."

"Oh," Wesley said unemphatically.

"So I guess that explains why we walked in on a circus act," Matthew said.

"What I don't get is why we have to protect _her_," Wesley said, pointing at Lina.

"Because unlike you two," James said, "I'd rather her not die at the hands of a warlock. Like it or not, she's our innocent. Besides, she's been telling the truth so far about Selim…I mean, Miles."

"What's with the change of heart all of a sudden?" Matthew asked. "Yesterday you didn't want anything to do with her. Now you wanna protect her. Make up your mind."

"Let's just focus on the task at hand," James said. "Better yet, why don't the two of you do something useful in your own room."

"No way!" Wesley said. "I'm not gonna leave you with that crazy b…"

"Bye," Matthew said, dragging Wesley out of the room.

James closed the door behind them and locked it. He turned to Lina, who had a deer-caught-in-headlights expression on her face. He motioned for her to sit down in his chair while he sat on his bed.

"Why are you still hanging around here?" James asked. "What's the real reason?"

"I can't go back to my 'home,'" Lina said. "They know about me. I know too much."

"Who are 'they?'" James asked.

"The Council," Lina answered. "You know about them, right?"

"Vaguely," James said. "It's really uncomfortable for you to be here, you know. Matt and Wes aren't too thrilled about it. We've got other issues to deal with besides this. I think that it's better that you find somewhere else to go. You can take care of yourself, I know that much."

"You don't understand," Lina said. "That's not…that's not the only reason I'm still here. I was hoping that you and I…_we_…could have another chance. I mean, now that you know the truth about me and all…"

James and Lina heard a quiet, but audible gasp right outside the door. It was quickly followed by a shushing sound and a small thump on the door. James rolled his eyes and turned back to Lina. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. This, the same woman who tried to kill him and his brothers, wanted to forget about the past and move on. Was he capable of that?

"I can't do that," James said after a short silence. "It's too weird."

"Can't you just think about it for a while?" Lina pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but no," James replied firmly.

"Fine," Lina said, suddenly changing her tune. "I tried to be nice, but you're just not getting the picture. I'll give you some time to think about it anyway, but don't waste it."

Lina disappeared in a flame, leaving James alone. Usually, her fiery method of travel was harmless, but this time, she left a large scorch mark on his chair, where she had been sitting. Wesley and Matthew walked back inside, as if on cue. Wesley was shaking his head.

"I told you," Wesley said. "The girl is a nut, you know."

"It sounds like she's turning back to her evil side," Matthew guessed. "We need to do something about it before she goes too far."

* * *

_Ugh! I guess I should've seen it comin'! Lina should never have been trusted in the first place! She's so sometimey that I can't stand it! What will the brothers do about it? And what will this Selim/Miles character get himself into next?_


	8. The Ish Has Hit The Fan

_Hey, everybody! Today, my kids are graduating from junior high school. Yesterday I felt like some sort of celebrity because they were mobbing me asking to sign their yearbooks. It was never this crucial in America, but here in Japan, everything's cause for celebration! Anyway, I'm so proud and sad that I had to tell somebody! I've never been on the other side of a graduation!_

_**Raya X: **You see what I did there with the Miles/Selim thing? I figured you'd be able to see right thru me! He really is a weird one, though. Drawn from somebody I actually know, except the real guy isn't as strange._

_**chyp:** I know how you get offended by profanity, but it wouldn't let me do stars instead of letters. Anyway, thanx for the review as usual!_

* * *

Another day had gone by. It was a dull day in terms of supernatural activity; there was barely any. It was unnerving to the brothers, who, up to that point, had had their hands full vanquishing demons and warlocks left and right. This sudden halt of attacks was making them nervous, especially Wesley. In addition, all three of them had taken two final exams each that day. To ease their minds from everything, Matthew suggested that they all go out to eat in Atlanta.

They had gone to a local restaurant in Buckhead, a prominent area of the city. It was also the place where their home was located. After eating their fill, Wesley wanted to see a concert that was playing nearby, in Freedom Park. An Emory University a cappella group had been performing all week at the park to celebrate the end of the year, as well as to provide students with a study break. The three brothers walked to the park, which was close to the restaurant (but not too close; it was still a good walk).

After an hour of listening to "music with no music," as James called it, James was ready to go back to the school. He had another final to take the next morning, while Wesley and Matthew had finals the next afternoon. They walked back to Matthew's car and made the long drive back to Oxford College.

* * *

It was time. His attack was carefully planned. It was an ambush that could not fail. He had calculated everything down to the second. He had been following his victims all day, in secret. And he waited, just as he had been instructed to do. Finally, his moment had arrived. His targets were returning back to Oxford. It was dark outside. Everything was perfect. He could hear their footsteps growing louder as they approached Branham Hall. They came ever nearer and he could even hear their chatter and laughter. They didn't suspect a thing. With a wide grin, he snapped his fingers. A giant, circular board appeared behind Matthew. Suddenly, knives came from nowhere, aimed right at Matthew.

James yelled, "Get down!" He and Wesley dove to the ground as the knives continued their course. Matthew quickly tapped into his phasing power and the knives passed harmlessly through him. He joined his brothers on the ground.

"I guess it wasn't as perfect as I thought," Miles retorted, making himself visible.

"Not you again," Wesley said, standing up.

"No time for formalities," Miles said. "How about a gift?"

Miles opened his hands and conjured a deflated balloon. Quickly blowing it up, he twisted it here and there, finally creating a balloon lion. He threw it into the air, and with a snap of his fingers, the lion came to life. Wesley jumped and hid behind his brothers. The lion pounced, its teeth bared and its claws at the ready. With a violent wave of his hand, James sent the lion off course and it crashed into a nearby tree. It disappeared with a loud popping sound, much like the sound of a balloon popping.

Miles, not satisfied with the results thus far, quickly dashed away, leaving his enemies to follow. As he ran, he reached inside his pocket and threw a handful of marbles behind him, which all three brothers slipped on. They all fell on top of each other, more annoyed than upset.

"We've been against a lot worse demons than this," Wesley commented, "but I just straight hate this guy!"

"Let's go," James said, jumping up. "He's running into Branham. We can't let him get too far."

* * *

Miles had built up quite a lead, making it that much harder for the brothers to catch up to him. As they stormed through the lobby of the residence hall, they ignored all of the stares they were getting from the students who were watching television or playing pool or just hanging around. They stopped in the middle of the lobby, having no idea where Miles could have gone. Then Matthew heard a door slam.

"That way," he pointed to the entrance of the Branham residence halls.

"Let's go!" James called out as he and his brothers continued their chase.

Miles had made it to the first floor of the Branham residence halls, the same floor on which James, Matthew, and Wesley lived. He bolted down the long hall as the brothers made their way inside. They saw him just as he was about to take to the stairs. Once he was out of sight, he would be impossible to find. The stairs led upstairs as well as outside. It was practically a labyrinth. Just as Miles put his hand on the doorknob, Wesley quickly and frantically waved his hands while running. Miles froze instantly.

"That was close," Wesley said.

"Good job, little bro," James congratulated.

"Agreed," Matthew said, digging into his pocket to remove a slip of paper. "Now let's finish this."

"_Abracadabra! Alakazam!  
This Trickster's schemes are all a scam.  
Hocus pocus, one two three,  
We call upon the power of the Complete  
To send this evil entity  
To Hell for all eternity!"_

As the brothers finished the spell, a breeze slowly formed and rushed through the hall. A vortex of energy surrounded the warlock, who was still frozen, swirling around him. The breeze grew stronger as the vortex became more and more powerful. Then, the force of the vortex tore Miles apart and he exploded in a shower of confetti.

"Now _that's _a vanquish," James said before Wesley had the chance.

"Um," Wesley said, with a grim expression on his face, "y'all might wanna turn around for a minute."

James and Matthew turned around and their once triumphant smiles immediately inverted themselves into defeated frowns. In their eagerness to get the job done, James, Matthew, and Wesley had inadvertently forgotten where they were. While they left the other students in the lobby, they had not thought of the quite possible possibility that they students would wonder why the three of them had run through the lobby the way they did. From the students' point of view, a man ran through the lobby first, catching their attention. Then, the brothers ran through the lobby afterwards, obviously in pursuit. Curious to find out what was going on, the students decided to follow them, but none of them were expecting to see what they saw.

A crowd had gathered behind them, their faces twisted into ones of shock, fright, and hysteria. They had wanted to see everything, but unfortunately, they _had_ seen everything. James and his brothers were at a loss for words. They had been seen. The Complete had been exposed.

* * *

_Ahhhhhhhhh! That can't be good! What's gonna happen next? What could possibly be any worse than this? I mean, last time somethin' like this happened, Prue died! However, this is not "Charmed," it's the 'Complete.'_


	9. Pressure

_I hope everyone's enjoying the season finale of the 'Complete' series! It's been a work in progress for some time now, and I just wanna take time out to thank everybody who's been reviewing!_

_**Quillsandbolts: **Thanx for the review. Every now and then I try to throw in a "Charmed" reference and then take it another way. You know, just for the sake of homage! I'm glad you're likin' it!_

_**Raya X: **Please pick your mouth up from the floor; it'll get dirty… And "eek" is right! It's never good to become exposed, I believe. I can't guarantee everyone's safety in the end, though…_

_**chyp:** Oh yeah, they're in some pretty deep trouble. Are they man enough to dig their way out?_

* * *

Hours had passed. The night had gone by. James, Matthew, and Wesley were locked inside of their dorm room, unable to leave. They were lucky that everything had happened on their floor. After the incident, they quickly took cover in James' room. It wasn't soon after that the students were crowded in front of the door. They wanted to know what was going on, and they wanted to know by any means necessary. Since the time of exposure, the other students had forgotten about everything else. They consistently beat on James' door, demanding to know what had happened. To them, it seemed like the brothers had killed someone. They had no idea that Miles was a warlock; he looked like a normal human being.

Life had suddenly become a lot harder for the brothers. Despite all the power they possessed as the Complete, they had been rendered powerless in a matter of moments. Things seemed to be at their worst; there was just no conceivable way for them to return this genie back into its bottle. They could not use their powers on the crowd, which was growing larger by the hour as more and more people became aware of what had happened. As the crowd increased in size, the rumors started to get more and more out of control. In the beginning, it was said that "they made that guy explode." As the hours passed, the story had been through many alterations. The most recent was "they had tackled him to the ground and forced him to drink some chemicals that made him explode." The stories just got weirder and weirder.

"I can't believe this," Matthew said, looking out of James' peephole. "Every student here is out there. It's a good thing this happened at night, otherwise the deans would be asking questions as well."

"It's not a good thing at all," James corrected. "We've been exposed! We can't even leave the room."

"I'm so stupid," Wesley said in a low voice that James and Matthew could barely hear. "This is all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Matthew asked.

"If I hadn't checked behind me before freezing Miles," Wesley explained, "this whole thing would have been avoided."

"It's not your fault," James said. "It was an honest mistake. I mean, we should've known better anyway than to not check around before doing our job."

"If it's anybody's fault," Matthew said, "it's _our_ fault, all of us. Don't blame this whole thing on yourself."

"We don't have time to point fingers, anyway," James said. "We have to figure a way out of this or else our lives are over."

* * *

Even at four o'clock in the morning, the crowd gathered around James' door had not significantly waned. They thought that the noise would have died down, or at least stopped until the next day, but it seemed as though every person in Oxford College had packed themselves into Branham Hall, more curious than ever.

Wesley hadn't been able to sleep at all because of the constant ranting and raving, as well as his overwhelming sense of guilt. He had tried to fall asleep many times, but it was useless. James and Matthew had packed pillows over their heads and had been asleep for at least a couple of hours, but he remained wide awake. The stress was killing him. It was too much for him to bear. He got out of the chair and scribbled a short note on James' desk in messy handwriting: _I'll be back_.

He grabbed his keys and looked out of the peephole. It was unbelievable! People were even camped outside of their dorm room just to make sure that they would see them when they finally had to come out of there. Crossing his fingers, he slowly opened the door. The volume of the noise increased tenfold as it invaded James' room. Before things got too loud, Wesley quickly flicked his hand.

Silence. For the first time in a long time, there was true silence. Why hadn't he done that before, he thought to himself as he carefully tiptoed through the frozen sea of humanity. It took a while, but he finally managed to get out of Branham Hall and to his car, where he sped off to an unknown destination.

* * *

"Our plan is going perfectly," Anamalech announced to the other Council members. "Everything is as it should be. The Complete have been exposed as evil beings, rendering them completely powerless."

"Also," Mastiphal added, "the youngest has left the others out of sheer frustration and guilt. An added bonus."

"The Trickster did his job well," Ardad said, "although it cost him his life."

"His sacrifice was well worth the results," Andras commented.

"Best of all, perhaps," Tenebrion explained (he had since recovered from Lina's previous attack), "is that now that the witches are trapped inside their own room, they cannot possibly prevent any further demon attacks. The playing field is completely open for us, no pun intended."

"Except for one thing," Mastiphal said. "Lina is still at large. As long as she is alive there is still the possibility that she will help the witches thwart our plans. That must be avoided at all costs."

"Traitors cannot be tolerated," Tenebrion added, pounding his fist on the table. "Leave her to me. When the time comes, I will deal with her. In the mean time, let us focus on the plan. We have come too far to have it ruined."

"There may be another bonus to this whole ordeal," Andras began. "With the leaving of one of the Complete, there is a significant opportunity to destroy them. The youngest has gone. If we kill him, that will destroy their power of three, making them as vulnerable as any other witch."

"Perfect," Anamalech said. "We must take advantage of every chance we are granted. It seems that the scales are about to tip dramatically in our favor…"

With that, the five members of the Council began to create a spell, one that would focus directly on Wesley. It was a spell that would, in theory, destroy him on the spot. Without the help of his brothers, he would be left wide open to any attack, especially since his power was only temporarily defensive at best, and he was not as physically aggressive as either of his brothers.

* * *

_That darned Council! We thought that exposing the Complete was their ultimate goal, but is there more? Plus, with Wesley out of the picture, how will Matthew and James react? Will the crowd become even more surly than it already is?_


	10. Unpredictable

_Good day, everybody! I hope y'all have on your green, 'cuz it's St. Patrick's Day (at least it is over there; it's already tomorrow here). Be sure to drink a couple of green beers for me!_

_**Quillsandbolts:** Here we go indeed! Thanx for the review! Hopefully you won't be disappointed with what I got planned!_

_**Raya X:** It's never good! Haven't you realized that by now? But Wesley still doesn't have control over his glimmering ability. As it stands, it only happens when he gets very scared or panicky, and even then he doesn't go anywhere. That one time was only because John gave him a lift and just kinda left him hanging…_

_**chyp:** My man! The technical story is that Tenebrion was never dead in the first place. Lina didn't have enough power to do that, since she was still weak from their first attack. She just wounded him to buy her time to get away. BUT, the idea kinda came from your chapter, so I hope you don't mind. And, happy anniversary! Maybe I'll get you something. OR, put you in a chapter!_

* * *

Wesley had been driving for an unusually long time. Granted, he had no idea of where he was going, but he still hadn't been on the road _that_ long. He went down an old abandoned road that twisted and turned like a snake. He never knew of such a road in Oxford; he figured that he was in some area that he and his brothers had just not bothered to venture. The road was demanding to drive along; he couldn't go more than fifteen miles per hour due to the numerous curves and bumps. He certainly did not want to drive off the road, although there were barriers on the edge to prevent that from happening.

Yet, he continued to drive slowly, but surely, up the road. It seemed to be leading him uphill. Taking a closer look at the barriers, he saw that they were mostly there to let drivers know where to go; they didn't look like they could stop a car from going off the road. Without warning, thunder crashed in the otherwise clear night sky and Wesley's car shut off for no apparent reason.

"Crap," he muttered to himself. "Another problem."

There had not been any unusual rumblings or warnings on the dashboard. He tried to restart the car, but nothing worked. Rolling his eyes at nothing, he took a flashlight out of the glove compartment and made his way to the hood of the car, hoping that it was a problem that was easily fixed. However, as he stepped outside his car, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worst.

Clouds gathered across the sky, blocking out the full moon. From out of nowhere, the wind picked up, stirring the otherwise motionless trees that lined the narrow road. More thunder cracked ominously, and lightning began flashing at frequent intervals. Within a few minutes, it was raining and Wesley was caught in the middle of the storm. He turned to get back inside the car; the least he could do was stay dry. Just before he opened the door, there was an extremely bright flash of lightning that sheared a nearby tree. It crashed down right on top of Wesley's car. The force of the blow threw Wesley back a few feet. Suddenly, another tree trunk fell, this time mere feet behind Wesley.

Something wasn't right, he thought to himself. His car had died for no reason, a storm came from nowhere, and now trees were falling like bowling pins. He turned and ran back down the road. He knew that he probably wouldn't make it very far, but he couldn't stay there in disaster central. As he ran down the road, another tree fell right behind him. One of the branches caught his foot and he tripped, falling directly on his head. The pain lasted very briefly as his world went black.

* * *

"There's no time!" a woman yelled. "We have no other choice! We have to do it now!"

"Are you sure that's what you saw?" a man asked.

"Yes!" she replied frantically. "We don't have any time to argue!"

"Okay," he said hesitantly, "but it better work."

"It will!" she cried. "Here, read it with me."

"_What once was whole is now not whole.  
Give us the power to make it whole.  
Bring to us the one who will,  
The one with the power to make this world nil."_

* * *

From their distant realm, the members of the Council smiled in satisfaction. Once Wesley was enveloped in the eye of the storm, he would literally be torn apart by the extreme magical forces. They watched as the events unfolded in the center of their pentagram-shaped table, shown through a light mist that revealed images inside. The eye of the storm was just inches away from the youngest brother's unconscious body. In just mere minutes, maybe even seconds, their magical storm will have done its job.

As the storm's eye closed in on Wesley's motionless figure, a sudden fork of lightning shot through the sky towards him. Yellowish-white tongues of light licked around his body and instead of being destroyed, Wesley simply disappeared altogether.

"What was that?" Mastiphal asked in a loud voice.

"Something went wrong," Andras said. "He has disappeared. Where did he go?"

"Perhaps his brothers summoned him," Tenebrion suggested.

"That is not possible," Ardad said. "Nothing could have summoned him."

"We forget," Anamalech explained, "that magic can be just as unpredictable for us as it can be for them. If he has disappeared, as we have seen, then our plan can still work. His brothers will still believe him to be dead. With no evidence of a body, they will have to believe so."

"He has a point," Mastiphal said. "We will carry on with the plan, then."

* * *

_What plan? This Council is truly bad news, huh? And where did Wesley go, anyway? Who were those people who said the spell? Did that have anything to do with Wesley's disappearance? What will Jimmy and Matt do? Will the questions never end?_


	11. Unbelievable

_**chyp: **Oh yeah, being in a chapter can really upgrade your reputation to a level you never even thought was possible!_

_**Quillsandbolts: **I agree. It was very rude and inconsiderate of them. I'll see what I can do about that Council…_

_**Raya X: **Maybe…_

* * *

"What a night," James said, rubbing his eyes as he awoke. "Those pills really did their job, huh?"

"Yeah," Matthew agreed. "I'm just glad that nobody barged in here. For a minute, I thought that everything was all a dream. What about you, homeboy? Sleep well?"

"Where is he?" James asked.

"You think he went outside?" Matthew asked.

James walked to the door and looked out the peephole. The crowd was still in full force and there were no indications that it would let up anytime soon. Matthew, in the meantime, checked the room completely for any signs Wesley may have left. He found the note on the desk and read it to James.

"He'll be _back_?" James asked. "Why would he leave in the first place?"

"I think he feels like everything is his fault," Matthew said. "Remember last night? He kept blaming himself. He seems a lot mellower lately."

"Strange," James said. "We have to find him, you know. He can't function out there on his own, especially with all the crap that's going on around here."

"How are _we_ gonna get out of here?" Matthew asked, pointing to the crowd just outside. "At least homeboy could freeze them and get out. We don't have that little trick."

"We're witches, Matt," James said, rubbing his hands together. "We can do anything."

James lowered his head and a copy of himself materialized outside the room in the lobby. The clone caught the attention of some students and they drew themselves away from the room, headed in the direction of the clone. After all the students were gone, Matthew peeked his head through the door, using his power. Everyone had finally left.

"Why didn't we think of that before?" Matthew asked.

"Later," James said, grabbing his keys. "We need to get out of here before things get even more out of control."

* * *

Wesley awoke. His wrecked car was nowhere to be found. In fact, it looked as if the storm had cleared away any signs that it had even been there at all. Everything was only bleak and empty. The only thing that remained intact was Wesley's flashlight, which had stayed in his hand. He slowly stood up to see that it was a nice, albeit cloudy, night. The moon could barely be seen through the thick layers of clouds. With no streetlights, Wesley had to rely on his flashlight to make his way back to civilization.

He had been walking for hours. Why had he gone up such an abandoned road in the first place, he thought to himself. This was definitely not how he wanted things to turn out. At least his flashlight worked. He wound his way down the empty street, noticing that something was different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew that there was something different, not just about the emptiness of the road, but about everything.

Despite having been exposed, he still had a job to try and do, so he made his way back down the road, in search of his brothers. He had to tell them about what had happened. He finally made it to a stretch of road that closely resembled one of the main roads of Oxford. Oddly enough, he saw more things that seemed out of place. The Waffle House that had always been at the corner was gone. The supermarket that was always open was now closed…closed down. It was covered with wooden boards. Nothing was as it should have been.

Walking down the street, he came across an old newspaper that had been thrown away, but had missed the trash can. He ran his eyes across it and almost had a heart attack. He carefully read it again, making sure that he had seen what he thought he had seen the first time. He had. The date read, "May 8, 2016." Was it possible that Wesley had been pulled into the future? As if the date hadn't been enough, the headline was the proverbial icing on the cake: "HRH James and HRH Matthew Celebrate 15 Years of Sovereignty."

The story read like a propaganda pamphlet; it continuously praised the virtues of the two "kings" who had apparently taken over not just Atlanta, but the whole country only fifteen years ago. Wesley read on and on; the article seemed to be the only one in the whole newspaper. As he neared the end, he heard sirens in the distance, distracting him. He turned to see a black car.

A man stepped out of the car, wearing an official-looking black uniform. Two other men also stepped out, but they remained close to the car, while the first walked towards Wesley.

"What are you doing out here without supervision?" the man said as he roughly pushed Wesley to the ground. "Show me your registration papers."

"My what?" Wesley asked. "What are you talking about?"

"No papers," the man said, twisting Wesley's arm. "Who are you, then? Are you with the Underground?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wesley said, "but I think you have the wrong person."

"Talking back to a member of the Royal Force," the man said, pulling Wesley up to his feet. "That's at least five years."

"Five years?" Wesley asked in disbelief. "You better take that somewhere else."

"_That_," the man continued, "will cost you five more years."

"My ass," Wesley said.

Wesley threw his foot out and kicked the black suited officer in the stomach, knocking him backwards. He flicked his hands at the remaining two, hoping to freeze them. However, they were wearing strange bracelets that glowed every time Wesley used his power. As a result, Wesley's freezing ability passed harmlessly around the two men and they advanced upon him.

Knowing that he wouldn't last a minute trying to fight back, Wesley decided to make a run for it. He was just about to turn and dash off when he felt a sharp pain in his back. The force of the blow spun him around and he could barely recognize the black-suited officer, holding an unknown weapon. The officer swung the weapon again and a blue streak of light arced from the tip, striking Wesley in the chest. He tumbled to the ground, weak and very much in pain.

* * *

_Oh, goodness! This is unbelievable! I don't even have the words to comment on this! Just stay tuned for the next chapter!_


	12. A Whole New World

_Hey, how was y'all's weekend? One of the teachers at my school got married and I went to the reception, which was a lot of fun except that it lasted for hours and hours. I think I wanna get married in Japan, because I ain't never seen a ceremony like that before… Meanwhile, great! I hit 30 reviews, so shouts out to y'all who made that possible! Now that I can do 30, I think I'ma think a little bigger and shoot for 40! It's not impossible, after all…_

_**Quillsandbolts:** Good guess…It's His Royal Highness. But 2 out of 3 ain't bad, right? Definitely a little Pinky and the Brain action goin' on, if you ask me…_

_**Raya X: **I haven't heard a good "OY" in such a long time. Very few Yiddish speakin' folks around these parts, you know. As for what's gonna happen…_

_**chyp: **I know!_

* * *

Wesley opened his eyes to see that he was now in the backseat of the black car, flanked by the two men he had tried to freeze before. He looked outside; it seemed like they had taken him to his house in Atlanta. The street still looked more or less the same. The trees had grown noticeably taller, but he still recognized them to be the same ones that lined his street. However, all of the other houses were gone. Instead, an incredible mansion dominated the area, spanning the length of the street. It was completely enclosed by ornate hedging and a gigantic golden fence that automatically opened upon their arrival. It was a house similar to his own, but this one was much larger.

With the officers pushing him roughly, Wesley marched up the driveway. The guards at the front door stepped aside and opened the doors, allowing them to enter. Wesley entered the mansion and found himself in a long corridor filled with tributes to the two "kings" from people all over the country. The walls were lined with pictures of devoted followers and the floor was covered with flowers, all dedicated to Kings James and Matthew.

He and the officers marched down the long corridor until they arrived at another set of doors. The guards at this door bowed slightly and opened them, revealing another grandiose room. A footman was waiting on the other side of the door and ushered them all to the Kings' presence.

They stood by a window, their backs turned. One stood six feet three four inches and had dark blond hair. He wore an immaculately tailored black suit with a matching pair of expensive sunglasses. The other stood just over six feet and had brown hair. He wore a suit as well, though his was navy blue in color. As the black-suited officer entered with Wesley, the taller man spoke.

"Commander Hall," he said, "what have you found this time?"

Wesley had been half-expecting it, but it was still a shock to hear the voice. Then both of the Kings turned around to face him. They looked a little older, but they still looked like the James and Matthew he had known. He smiled at them slightly, trying to keep a low demeanor, but as the moments passed and no one said anything, he could not help himself.

"Jimmy! Matt!" he shouted.

Before he could say anything else, he noticed the anger building in Matthew's eyes. James slowly removed his sunglasses, revealing a pair of cold blue eyes that stared at Wesley.

"How dare you speak to us without being spoken to first," James said.

James waved his hand slightly and Wesley was hurled the entire length of the room, painfully slamming into a wall and slumping to the ground. Wesley shook his head as he tried to gather himself, but he couldn't help but notice that James' telekinetic power had grown a lot more.

"We found him just outside Oxford," Commander Hall reported. "He was without papers. We figured that you might like to see him. He may be with the Underground. This may be one of their latest plans."

"Good work, Hall," Matthew said. "Now leave us, everybody."

Commander Hall bowed and turned on his heel, as did everyone else. They all left the room. Wesley tried to sneak out as well, but was stopped by an invisible force. Slowly, the force pulled him towards his brothers, rendering him powerless to move. Soon, he was standing face to face with James and Matthew.

"You thought you could just leave?" Matthew asked.

"How insolent," James retorted.

"Jimmy," Wesley said, "you don't have to pretend anymore, even though the whole throwing me across the room was marginal. Besides, last time I checked, you didn't even know what 'insolent' meant. Look, something happened…"

James' face had hardened and Wesley had suddenly been jerked upwards. He hung there while James stared at him, anger flashing in his eyes. Matthew smiled at the sight. James relaxed his eyes and Wesley fell to the ground, landing hard on his bottom.

"How did you do that without using your hands?" Wesley asked.

"My hands aren't the only way for me to channel my power anymore," James said.

"Who are you?" Matthew asked. "Why do you have our brother's face?"

"Don't be…silly," Wesley said, changing his choice of words at the last minute. "I'm Wesley, y'all's brother, remember?"

"Our brother is dead," Matthew said.

"Dead?" Wesley asked. "I'm standing right here! Look, I got caught up in some storm and the next thing I know, I'm here. What's going on here, anyway? I'm hearing about all this "king" stuff and the house is huge, not that I'm complaining about that, but you know, it's just not right."

"You say you're our brother," James said, "but you don't know anything about us. All of this is _for_ our brother."

"For me?" Wesley asked with a flattered expression.

"Keep the charade up," Matthew said. "We'll play along with you for now. If you want to know what happened, we'll show you."

Matthew reached out and grabbed Wesley's shoulder. Together they disappeared out of the room in the blink of an eye. James followed suit and blinked out as well. The room they were in suddenly vanished and was replaced with the scenery of a park. Wesley looked around and was very disoriented.

"What happened?" he asked. "How did we get here?"

"We blinked here," Matthew answered simply. "Now, look."

* * *

_They **blinked** there? What is Matt pointing at anyway? Ahh, the suspense ought to be killin' y'all right about now…_


	13. How It Came To Be

_Happy World Water Day, people! Let's do our best to conserve and clean our water…whatever that means…_

_**chyp: **I'm not gonna lie to you, chyp…_

_**Raya X: **I won't lie to you, either, Raya…_

* * *

Wesley followed Matthew's pointed finger to a statue mounted on a pedestal. His mouth dropped open. The statue was of himself! It was very closely detailed, depicting Wesley after spitting out one of his sarcastic comments. He remembered that face well. Looking further down, he saw a caption engraved into a space. It read, _Your Death Was Not In Vain_. Wesley turned back in utter disgust, beginning to realize what had happened as his brothers began telling him the story of how it all came to be.

"We were exposed," Matthew began. "Everyone at Oxford found out about our powers. We were helpless. We couldn't risk using our powers because the other students would see it as black magic. We managed to escape undetected and retreated back to the house. It wasn't long before the media found out. Soon, the house was covered with people, all kinds of people. Some claimed to be witches and wanted to join our 'coven,' while others wanted us dead."

"Wesley had left the dorm room before we could bring him back with us," James continued. "Apparently, he felt too guilty about everything and had blamed it all on himself. Before we left Oxford, we found a note he left. It said that he would be back later, but he never did."

"There had been a freak storm that night," Matthew said, continuing the story. "It was all over the news. We went to check it out and found his car way up on an abandoned road. It had been smashed by trees. He was nowhere to be found. We filed police reports, but the investigation had been closed under the assumption that he had been kidnapped and/or killed, but if it hadn't been for these people in the first place, he'd have never been out there at all.

"The police gave up on him, but we didn't. We turned to magic, but nothing we tried could neither locate him nor bring him back. It was like he just disappeared off the face of the earth. We looked through the Book over and over again, studying each page for any kind of help. Nobody was there to help us. Not John, not even our parents."

"The worst part," James said, lowering his head, "was that everyone gladly accepted his death as a 'good riddance.' They didn't even care. As far as they were concerned, we were murderers.

"So we had to give up. With nobody to help us, there was nothing we could do. But the one thing we did was swear revenge…on everybody who had turned their backs on us. We worked on our magic and forced our powers to advance to more offensive ones. We worked on spells until we had it all mastered. It wasn't long before we made our move. The police couldn't stop us. Not even the military forces could stop us. On the other side of things, we vanquished all of the Council members just in case they tried anything. We weren't the Complete anymore, but we were still too powerful for anyone to handle. We used our magic to turn them all to our side. They called us tyrants, but we didn't want to sound like dictators. We thought of ourselves as kings. The name just kind of stuck."

"Enough!" Matthew spat, turning to Wesley. "Who are you?"

"And why didn't the Underground bother to make you look like you'd aged?" James added.

"I don't know what the hell y'all are talkin' about," Wesley insisted. "The only Underground I've heard of is Underground Atlanta. Wait, y'all vanquished the Council?"

"You're trying our patience," Matthew warned.

"And we run out of _that_ very easily," James said with a dangerous edge in his voice.

"This is stupid!" Wesley shouted. "I _am_ your brother! If y'all won't believe my voice or my face, then believe _this_!"

He looked around and found a rock. He picked it up and held it out for his brothers to examine. He then threw it into the air, making sure that both James and Matthew could see it. He extended his hands and gestured.

"Now do you be…" Wesley started.

* * *

_Now do you be-WHAT? I hate when people do that to me! Anyway, so there's the nutshell story about what all has happened apparently in the last fifteen years. Did time fly, or did it fly? So, what's gonna happen next? And what the hell is wrong with Wesley?_


	14. Big Surprise

_Good day to everybody. Here's a toast to the wonderful people who reviewed!_

_**Quillsandbolts: **I knew that I could never put anything past you! You're a regular Sherlock Holmes! Besides, the laws of science and deduction always overrule those of magic. You got me; I give…_

_**chyp: **Have a good Easter, then, and that goes for everybody! I'll be doin' what I be doin', and you do what you gotta do._

_**Raya X: **Well now you can sit back straight, wipe the bloodiness off your seat, and continue with the story. That's bad for your posture, you know._

* * *

Something was wrong. The rock had frozen in midair, exactly as Wesley had intended, but so had his brothers. He should have seen it coming, though. It was almost inevitable. Fifteen years of ruling the country in a reign of fear and terror had turned his brothers evil. He had to fix this to save the country, his brothers, and himself. All of the good that he and his brothers could have done had been taken and corrupted into a dark shadow of what should have been. The only way to get things back to normal was to reverse time. He had to go back and prevent whatever it was that had caused things to be this way. But he needed powerful magic to do that. He needed a spell that required the power of the Complete. Wesley hoped that somewhere deep inside these two Kings, his brothers were still there.

Taking advantage of the moment, he walked past his frozen siblings and stood on the other side of the statue that bore his likeness. He had to change things and he needed their help. In order for that to happen, though, they had to believe that Wesley was who he said he was. He gestured again and everything unfroze.

"Behind you," Wesley called out.

"Homeboy?" Matthew said for the first time in fifteen years. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, Matt," Wesley said.

"But why did _we_ freeze?" James asked. "You could never freeze us."

"You didn't expect us to still have halos over our heads, did you?" Matthew asked his older brother. "All of the personal gain and revenge must have obviously had an effect on us."

"But it's not too late," Wesley said, interrupting Matthew. "We can still change things. I know that the real Jimmy and Matt are inside of y'all, hating all of this. Y'all have to help me set things right again. Help me to stop it all from happening."

"And how would that happen?" James asked.

"I need to go back to 2001," Wesley answered. "Send me back to before we were exposed. I can stop our secret from getting out and everything will be fine."

"Wait," Matthew said. "You want us to help you cast a spell that would end our existence?"

"Not end," Wesley corrected, "but change."

"Change?" James asked, laughing. "How can things get any better than they are right now? We have absolute control over not the city, not the state, but the entire country. We could rule the world if we wanted. We have everything we want and you want to destroy that? Join us, _brother_, and everything would be the way it's supposed to be. The three of us would be reunited and unstoppable. With the power of the Complete at our disposal once again, no one would dare stop us."

"As good a speech as that was," Wesley commented dryly, "I feel sorry for you two. Y'all just don't see the bigger picture. I know that things happen for a reason, I get it, but this happened so that it could be changed. This isn't the way things are supposed to be, y'all have to believe that. Everything y'all have has been taken, not given. I mean, who loves you? Nobody, that's who. Y'all have everybody so scared that they're damn near peeing their pants. What kind of life is that?"

"You know," James said, "if anyone else had said that to me, I would've killed them on the spot. But because you're my brother, I'll give you another chance. Join us."

"What if I don't wanna?" Wesley challenged.

"You're either with us or against us," Matthew said. "Homeboy, we thought you were dead, but you're back with us again. Don't make the wrong choice. Don't force us to do this."

"I love y'all like brothers," Wesley said, "but I'm against y'all."

* * *

_Ahh, poor Wesley…I knew him well… He's so belligerent and one-track minded that it's gettin' him into all kinds of trouble! What's gonna happen to him next, in this season finale of the 'Complete' series?_


	15. Bigger Surprise

_**chyp: **Thanx!_

_**Raya X: **I know what 'bloody' means! I may have a distaste for the British language, but I know their vernacular… Sorry I fudged up your line!_

* * *

Wesley sat miserably against a wall, cramped in the tiny cell he had been thrown into. Three days had passed since he had last seen or spoken to anyone. At the so-called "Kings'" orders, he was allowed to live for now, but with no other human contact. From that point on, Wesley had refused to think of them as his brothers. They had become tyrants, dictators, psychotic even.

His cell door remained sealed shut; the Kings figured that he might try and use his power to escape. All he could do was wait. His brothers didn't lie to him at all; they had condemned him. He didn't even know where he was. Wherever it was, it certainly wasn't inside of the house/mansion.

"Ma," he said quietly, looking upwards, "if you ever wanted to help me, I think now would be the best time to cut in."

There was a noise outside. A slot in the cell door opened and a tray was pushed through. Wesley went to examine the meal. It looked like anything but food. It was a grayish colored sludge with a hint of greenness. Wesley turned his nose up in disgust, almost dry heaving.

"My last request is gonna be a decent meal!" Wesley shouted at the guard who had pushed the food inside, who only snickered as he walked away. "_Every_ day the same thing!"

"Are you in _that_ much of a hurry to die?" a voice asked from behind him.

* * *

Wesley dropped the tray in surprise. He immediately froze it before it could make a noise that might draw attention to him. He quickly placed it on the ground quietly and turned to the source of the voice. Blue and white lights danced before him, forming the figure of a man. As the lights faded, there stood an African-American man, just over six feet in height. He looked to be in his mid- to late fifties, but still in good shape. He had short black hair and dark brown eyes that had a very penetrating stare.

"John," Wesley said dismissively, "I don't need to deal with you right now. You only come around when you think you can screw us over even more."

"I'm not John," the man said. "Call me Euler."

"Euler?" Wesley asked. "Like rhymes with 'ruler?'"

"Yes," Euler replied dryly. "We don't have time for jokes now. Just trust me and grab my hand."

Wesley took Euler's hand. He saw a flash of blue and white light. There was a sudden sense of acceleration and a brief moment when he felt like he was everywhere at once. His head went light; he was dizzy and the room spun around him. Euler held him in place until the sensation passed. When the dizziness had gone, Wesley looked around to see that he was in a completely different place. The grim gray walls of his cell had been replaced with another set of gray walls, but this room was much bigger than his cell.

"Glimmering again?" Wesley asked. "Can't get used to it, I guess. Now who are you? Where are we?"

"We're in a secret location," Euler explained, smiling at Wesley's look of dissatisfaction. "Don't worry, we're safe here. This place hasn't been used in a very long time. Nobody would ever find us down here."

"Down here?" Wesley repeated. "Where exactly is 'down here?'"

"I told you," Euler said, "it's a secret. That's all you need to know for now."

"Fine," Wesley said unenthusiastically. "Now, who the hell are you?"

"Me?" Euler asked. "I'm called a Guardian. Kind of like a…"

"Guardian angel for witches, I know," Wesley said, completing Euler's sentence. "So you came to save me?"

"Not exactly," Euler said. "When I found out that you were here, I knew I had to get to you before they killed you. I know that you're one of the Complete. And believe it or not, you're here to save _us_."

"What?" Wesley asked.

"You're the only one who can stop this," Euler said. "As one of the Complete, you have the power to go up against them. I don't mean to sound like a stalker, but all of us here in the Underground know a lot about you and your brothers."

"They're not my brothers," Wesley corrected. "Besides, everything's different here. First of all, everyone's fifteen years older. My so-called brothers are dictators and I'm supposed to be dead. I don't know what's going on."

"Is this him?" a feminine voice asked. "Is this your…"

"Friend," Euler said rather quickly. "Wesley, I want you to meet my wife, Kia. She's the co-leader of the Underground."

"Underground this, Underground that," Wesley said. "What the hell _is_ this Underground thing that everybody keeps talking about?"

"Well," Kia explained, "after the two Kings assumed power, one of their first actions was to hunt down anybody that could pose a threat, namely witches and Guardians. Euler and I helped a lot of witches to escape, but there were some that wanted to stay and fight back. We helped them to fight."

"So you're a witch or a Guardian?" Wesley asked Kia.

"Witch," Kia answered. "I can heal people. Pretty passive, but it gets the job done."

"Right," Wesley agreed.

"So," Euler continued, "as we formed this alliance of witches and Guardians, we just called ourselves the Underground, since that's where we are, underground. With all of our powers and skills, we've been able to score hit after hit against the Kings."

"We know all about you, Wesley," Kia said. "We know more than you think. We know that you're here to stop your brothers. Even though what's happened isn't your responsibility, it _is_ your responsibility to end this."

* * *

_I'm off for the weekend, so I'ma leave y'all hangin'! Have a good one!_


	16. We've Got A Party To Plan

_The last time we left our heroes (and anti-heroes), we saw Wesley thrown fifteen years into the future, a time where everything had changed into an abyss of despair. A time where his brothers had turned evil and had taken over everything. It was definitely the worst of times._

_**chyp: **Thanx, man. I'm doin' what I can._

_**Raya X: **Who are those people, anyway? Who knows? And what can I say; I've grown rather fond of these cliffhangers…_

_Meanwhile, HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYBODY (unless you're not Christian, otherwise HAPPY SUNDAY)!_

* * *

"We can't touch the Kings directly," Euler said. "If we could get to them, then this hell would have been over a long time ago. The problem is that they're still Complete witches. Even though they don't have the power of three anymore, individually they're still the most powerful witches ever born, just like you. Plus, their powers have grown in the past fifteen years. Now, anyone, witch or not, who tries to go up against them is committing suicide."

"So since I'm part of the Complete," Wesley deduced, "I'm the only one with the power to end this." He sighed loudly as the enormity of the task settled upon him. "I can't kill them, though."

"I know that they're your brothers," Euler said, "but…"

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," Wesley said. "There are two of them and one of me. I wouldn't have a chance."

"What if we took their powers?" Kia hypothesized. "Do you think there's a spell to strip them of their powers?"

"Probably," Wesley said. "It would be in the Book of Light, but I have no idea where that is…. Hey! You could glimmer us inside, Euler! Then we could get the Book."

"You always were impulsive," Euler said.

"Huh?" Wesley asked.

"Never mind," Euler said. "Anyway, they cast a spell so that magic from the outside won't affect them inside. I can't get inside. If I could, I would've gotten the Book a long time ago. It wouldn't stop them, but it would handicap them."

"Well," Wesley said, "_I _need the Book. My power is still as weak and lame as it was fifteen years ago."

"Your power's not weak or lame," Euler said. "Your power is very unique. You know why? It's because you're possibly the only one in the world who can stop time. A power like that shouldn't ever be taken for granted."

"Don't lay the parental speech on me," Wesley said. "I'm just saying that I need the Book. How can we get it?"

"We'd need a full scale attack," Kia said.

"If we do that," Euler proposed, "we need to do it right. We'll launch a full scale attack like we're trying to take them out, but all we actually need to do is get the doors open. Then Wesley and I can run in and find the Book of Light, assuming we don't get killed first."

"I can freeze them," Wesley said. "I don't know how long it will last, but maybe enough to stay safe."

"That's risky," Kia said.

"That's Wesley," Euler said. "Now, if we do this, Kia, you need to get everyone in and out as quickly as you can. We can't risk the Underground being wiped out in one battle. Get everybody up to speed. We got a party to plan."

* * *

"That was close," Matthew said, slamming the front door of their house behind him. "We barely made it here."

"I know," James said. "Right now we need to try and put up barriers around all the doors. We can't risk anybody coming in here. We're already in enough trouble as it is."

"What are we gonna do, Jimmy?" Matthew asked. His tone had changed to one more somber and compassion. "We've lost homeboy."

"We haven't lost him," James said. "You can't give up on him. He's resourceful. Wherever he is, I'll bet he's looking for a way back here right now."

"What if he isn't?" Matthew asked.

"If I can hope for the best," James said, "then you can, too. We have to believe that everything's alright with him. But if something _did _happen to him, then I think we're in for a fight…"

* * *

_A fight, indeed. I hope everything goes well. I mean, I know I've said this before, but the last time something of this magnitude happened in another unrelated television show, somebody got killed… But coming up next: the battle begins and Wesley and Euler try to find the Book of Light, but will they be able to withstand the power of King James and King Matthew?_


	17. Family Reunion

_Hi, everybody! I hope everybody's having a good holiday break. We all deserve it, unless you're living somewhere where Easter doesn't exist and everybody else around you is a closet…well I'm rambling, so let me move on._

_**chyp:  
**1) Lina is in an unspecified location, known only to her.  
2) I read your latest chapter and reviewed it as well.  
3) Thanx. I had a good Easter Sunday. Good times.  
4) I'll do what I can, but this story's quickly coming to a close!  
5) Enjoy those days off. It's the least we could do for you…_

_**Raya X: **What's this? Raya X has changed her mind about that loveable Jimmy? Is she afraid to see him die? Will she be heartbroken if he in fact does die?_

* * *

"I think we're in for a fight," Wesley said to Euler as their van drove through Atlanta. "I'm having second thoughts about this."

"Keep them in the back of your head," Euler said. "We're almost here."

It was the middle of the night when they arrived at Wesley's former house. Things looked quiet as Wesley's van parked on the next street down, as had all the other vans. On Euler's call, the assault began. People teleported and glimmered to the front of the Kings' mansion, using their powers to overcome the officers and guards who were caught by surprise.

Energy balls, fireballs, streaks of lightning, icy mists, and the like, sailed in the air. Each blow seemed to do nothing to the front doors, which absorbed all the attacks. In addition, the defending guards were becoming more numerous as they learned of the attack. As the battle intensified, the number of injuries increased, requiring the aid of Kia and others with healing abilities.

The troops opposing the Underground had been caught off guard by the Underground's attack, but they were quickly making up the deficit. However, Euler and his group were not about to give them a chance to recover. At Euler's signal, the magical projectiles increased, all aimed at a specific point of the mansion. The Underground members also began to chant a spell, Wesley included. The volume gradually increased as more voices joined in. It built and built until it could be heard over all of the din of the fight. Clouds gathered around the mansion and thunder crackled across the sky. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of lightning fell from the heavens, on a trajectory towards the house. It struck the front doors, instantly obliterating them.

The fight stopped. Both the Underground and the Kings' troops stared at the gaping hole in front of the mansion, disbelieving the effect of the spell. Euler quickly took Wesley's arm.

"That spell broke the one they put around their house," Euler explained. "We can get in and find your brothers now."

"It's now or never, right?" Wesley asked.

"Kia," Euler said quickly, "you need to get everybody out of here _now_! We'll be back as soon as we can."

Euler turned back to Wesley, who nodded and braced himself. They glimmered out of the street. Wesley once again saw the blue and white lights, felt the strange sensations, got dizzy, and suddenly he found himself staring directly into the eyes of James and Matthew.

* * *

They were both in a state of shock; their eyes were wide open and their jaws had almost hit the floor. What they had once thought was impenetrable had just been invaded in front of their own eyes. James quickly waved his hand in a violent backhand motion and both Wesley and Euler were torn from their standing spaces and thrown across the room. While in the air, Euler spotted a large chair. Thinking quickly, he waved his hand and the chair disappeared in blue and white lights. It reappeared right where Wesley landed, saving him a lot of pain. Euler, meanwhile, glimmered out of the air and reappeared next to Wesley. They were both unhurt.

"Haven't I seen that somewhere before?" Wesley said to himself.

Euler dismissed him and waved both his arms in a forceful manner. Both James and Matthew glimmered out and reappeared in the air, hurtling towards the opposite wall. They slammed into it, sliding down to the floor. Euler pulled Wesley out of the chair.

"Okay," Euler said, "here's what I need you to do. Think about the Book. About what it looks like, anything you can. Just think about nothing else except for the Book."

Wesley closed his eyes and pictured the Book of Light as he remembered it. He imagined the three circles on the front cover, the symbol of the Complete. He imagined its tattered and worn pages. He imagined its heaviness and its awkward size. He remembered everything he could about the magical Book. Euler positioned Wesley's hands so that they were in a receiving position. Euler then closed his eyes and concentrated on the same thing. Moments later, the Book of Light glimmered into Wesley's waiting hands.

"Did I do that?" Wesley asked. "How…"

"No time to explain," Euler said. "Find what you need in there. They're coming to. We don't have any time."

"We have plenty of time," Wesley said, his words backed with newfound confidence. "Watch this."

Matthew was the first to stir. He jumped up and glared at Wesley, who was about to flick his hands and stop time. Matthew reacted first and extended a hand out to Wesley. Instantly, Wesley's hands dropped to his sides. They seemed too heavy to move. Soon, Wesley collapsed to the ground as if his body were being pulled down by all of gravity. He was helpless. Euler was about to help, but James had created a clone, which appeared behind him and tackled him to the ground. With Euler and Wesley out of commission, James used his power to slide the Book back to him.

Euler struggled mightily, but he wasn't strong enough. The clone had him completely pinned. Wesley also struggled, but no matter what he did, he could not conquer this heaviness that Matthew had placed upon him. Matthew and James laughed evilly at the sight. They had been challenged, but they knew that they would end up the victors.

"We've had our fun," Mathew said, "but now it's time for you and the old man to pay the price. But how?"

"How about your trick?" James suggested. "Always an old favorite."

"Good idea," Matthew said.

* * *

_Oh, no! Not the trick! Things are definitely looking grim for our heroes. What's gonna happen to them?_


	18. For Only A Brief Moment

_**Quillsandbolts: **Wait no more, dear friend! Herein lies the trick!_

_**Raya X: **Aww, you mustn't cry, Raya, at least not now! And I did read that 'Harry Potter' fic you put up. It's pretty good, but you know that already!_

_**chyp: **Oh yes, chyp, it's the trick…_

* * *

Matthew strolled casually toward Euler, who was still having a hard time trying to fight off James' clone. At Matthew's signal, James' clone vanished into the air. Euler jumped up, standing face to face with Matthew. He began to glimmer out, but Matthew, with a wave of his hand, forced him back into the room. Matthew became transparent and phased himself right into Euler. Wesley stood up; his hold had been released. He could do nothing but watch Matthew rip Euler apart from the inside. He looked on in horror as Euler's body twisted and contorted in pain.

"Matt!" Wesley shouted. "This isn't you! You have to stop this! You can't kill him!"

"He can do whatever he wants," James said from behind Wesley. Before Wesley could turn around, James had grabbed him by the neck, putting him into a deadly headlock. "Now you're gonna watch this, because you're next, brother."

Euler screamed as the pain reached its maximum. He could feel every part of his body beginning to explode. With all the strength he could muster, he looked Wesley into the eyes and unstably muttered, "I love you, son." With those words, he exploded, leaving Matthew standing in his place. Matthew shook his head, smiling.

"What a rush," he said. "Still got it."

"Son?" Wesley and James asked at the same time, then looked at each other.

"If he said what I think he said," Wesley said, "then you killed my father! All this time I've been looking for him and you killed him before I got a chance to know him!"

The frustration and anger had built inside of Wesley until he couldn't hold it anymore. He tried to loosen James' hold around his neck, but his brother was stronger than ever. Then, he glimmered in a sea of light and reappeared in front of his brothers. Before they could react this time, he was quicker. He flashed his hands and the two of them froze in suspended animation.

"Okay," he said, giving himself a pep talk. "You can do this. You're a grown man. You just glimmered all by yourself. Now get the Book and get the hell out of here!"

He ran to the Book and flipped through it frantically. He was searching as fast as he could, but in the past fifteen years the Book of Light had grown considerably thicker. He turned and saw James and Matthew beginning to twist their way out of Wesley's freeze. He looked faster. As he lifted his hand from a page, the Book began to flip on its own, coming to rest on a spell: _To Correct That Which Should Never Have Been_. It was a time travel spell, but it was only a one-way trip. Wesley quickly, but carefully read the details. The effects of the spell would take him back to a specific point in time, one which he had to concentrate on, where he would retain his memory of everything that had happened since then for only a few minutes, giving him a chance to change things. Afterwards, he would forget everything and live out the altered future. Perhaps the best part about the spell was that it didn't require all three brothers to read it.

"It's about damn time _somebody_ up there helped me," Wesley said as he began to recite the spell.

"_Back to the place I hold in mind,  
Turn back clock and…"_

He wasn't even able to finish the sentence before the Book flew out of his hands. He turned to see his brothers breathing heavily. James had his hand extended. With his other hand, he telekinetically threw Wesley against a wall, keeping him there. He flailed about, trying to free himself, but James held him firmly in place.

"A time travel spell," Matthew said, picking up the Book. "You thought it would be that easy?"

"Easier," Wesley said.

He flicked his hands as hard as he could, remembering everything that had happened in the last few minutes. He thought about Euler and the Underground, about the two Kings, about everything that wasn't supposed to be. He brought forth all the energy he could muster and flicked his hands. What happened was nothing short of literal.

* * *

_What does that mean, 'nothing short of literal?' And what's going on overall? At least we've FINALLY found out who Wesley's father is! But, he's dead! How can that be? I think poor Wesley's finally starting to really get pissed off at his brothers. Can a resolution be reached? I hope so!_


	19. Power Surge

_Alright, people! This story, and this season, is coming to a close very soon! I'm so excited, but sad as well. Well, I guess it's not like there won't be more stories, just…not for a little while. But let's not dwell on that…_

_**chyp: **Everybody seems to be getting new powers, but I guess that's gonna happen when fifteen years just fly by, you know. Thanx for the review._

_**Raya X:** I'm glad you got so emotional! I cried as I was typing it. It never crossed my mind that it was so close to the whole Chris dying thing. Dare I say I forgot about that?_

_**Quillsandbolts: **'Nothing short of literal' could mean just about anything, when you think about it. But, in this story there's only one meaning…just look below. It's not terribly original; I've seen it before…_

* * *

Instead of freezing his brothers again, he _froze_ them…solid! Slowly, ice formed from their feet up to their heads, encasing them completely in ice. Wesley fell to the floor, landing on his feet. He walked to his frozen brothers. The ice was extremely thick. It would take a while for even them to fight their way out of it.

"Now that's a freezing power with _kick_," he commented to himself, slightly upset that no one was around to hear it. He picked up the Book, which Matthew had dropped, and finished reading the spell.

"_Back to the place I hold in mind,  
Turn back clock and time unwind.  
Let this pattern be erased;  
Weave again the cloth of Fate."_

In a swirl of white light, he was gone from the mansion.

* * *

Miles quickly dashed away, leaving his enemies to follow. As he ran, he reached inside his pocket and threw a handful of marbles behind him, which all three brothers slipped on. They all fell on top of each other, more annoyed than upset.

"We've been against a lot worse demons than this," Wesley commented, "but I just straight hate this guy! Wait, I've said that before! I'm back!"

"Stop talking to yourself," James said, jumping up. "Let's go! He's running into Branham. We can't let him get too far."

Miles had built up quite a lead, making it that much harder for the brothers to catch up to him. As they stormed through the lobby of the residence hall, they ignored all of the stares they were getting from the students who were watching television or playing pool or just hanging around. They stopped in the middle of the lobby, having no idea where Miles could have gone. Then Matthew heard a door slam.

"That way," he pointed to the entrance of the Branham residence halls.

"Let's go!" James called out as he and his brothers continued their chase.

Miles had made it to the first floor of the Branham residence halls, the same floor on which James, Matthew, and Wesley lived. He bolted down the long hall as the brothers made their way inside. They saw him just as he was about to take to the stairs. Once he was out of sight, he would be impossible to find. The stairs led upstairs as well as outside. It was practically a labyrinth. Just as Miles put his hand on the doorknob, Wesley quickly and frantically waved his hands while running. Miles froze instantly.

"That was close," Wesley said, then added to himself, "_of course it was close, it was like that the first time_."

"Good job, little bro," James congratulated.

"Agreed," Matthew said, digging into his pocket to remove a slip of paper. "Now let's finish this."

"Yeah," Wesley said, "but let's do it right this time."

Wesley quickly spun around and froze the gathering mass of curious students that had gathered behind them. They wanted to know what was going on and why the three brothers were chasing some unknown guy. Thankfully, though, Wesley had just made sure that they would never know.

James and Matthew both exchanged confused expressions. They had completely forgotten about the possibility of a crowd forming. They breathed a sigh of relief. They also had not missed the words "this time," as Wesley had said before. They didn't know what it all meant, but there would be a time for asking questions later. Matthew held out the paper for them to all read.

"_Abracadabra! Alakazam!  
This Trickster's schemes are all a scam.  
Hocus pocus, one two three,  
We call upon the power of the Complete  
To send this evil entity  
To Hell for all eternity!"_

As the brothers finished the spell, a breeze slowly formed and rushed through the hall. A vortex of energy surrounded the warlock, who was still frozen, swirling around him. The breeze grew stronger as the vortex became more and more powerful. Then, the force of the vortex tore Miles apart and he exploded in a shower of confetti.

"Now _that's _a vanquish!" Wesley said, beating James to the punch.

* * *

"I can't believe that we were that close to being exposed," James said.

"Me neither," Matthew agreed. "Who knows what could've happened?"

"I'm just glad it's over and done with," Wesley added. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Wesley left James' dorm room and returned to his own across the hall. He was exhausted, but he had no idea why. He felt like something had happened to him besides vanquishing Miles, but whatever it was stayed just outside of his grasp. Eventually he dismissed the notion and plopped down onto his bed, falling asleep instantly.

"He was acting weird," Matthew said to James after Wesley left. "He sounded like this had all happened before."

"I think it's all the stuff going on with us lately," James said. "I'm leaving, Lina's become crazy, all the attacks, everything. I think this Miles thing probably pushed him over the edge."

"Maybe you're right," Matthew sighed. "I think, though, that we need to deal with some other issues before we go to sleep."

* * *

_Issues? What issues? Oh well…and poor Wesley; I mean, he just found his father and everything and now he doesn't seem to have a clue about him. He's back where he started! At least he got to save the world, so to speak._


	20. A Leaf Slowly Falls

_Alright, y'all. I've stretched this story out as far as I possibly could, but unfortunately, this is the next to last chapter of the first season of the 'Complete' series! Sad as it is, it's also exciting because that means that the next season is just around the proverbial river bend… And as usual, any thoughts for storylines for the upcoming season are always welcome and appreciated!_

_**Raya X: **Yeah, I'm tryin' to tie up any loose ends so give everybody some sort of peace of mind. That said, thanx for reviewing as always, and I hope you especially enjoy this chapter…_

_**chyp: **Ice is always nice, but it's a complicated thing, which I can't really explain right now. It has something to do with him possibly having that particular power fifteen years in the future, but since he changed the future, his powers might go another way now. It's that whole big time thing… As far as getting others to read your story, I don't know what I can do, but I'll spread the word for you, if that's what you mean._

* * *

"Like?" James asked.

"Well," Matthew said, "first of all we have to talk about Lina. You said yourself that she's become out of control. And the way she left here didn't exactly seem too amicable. She burned your chair on her way out!"

"I know," James said, sighing. "Maybe you can write a spell or something. I don't want either of y'all to have to be on the lookout for her, too."

"Actually," Matthew said, "homeboy already has a spell. He wrote one a long time ago. You were just too stubborn to listen to him when he tried to bring it up."

"I should've known," James said, smiling. "You think he'll wake up to help?"

"I'm sure," Matthew said, "but are you sure you wanna do this now? I mean, are you okay with it?"

"I'm fine," James lied. "The sooner we get it done, the better we'll all be. Let's go."

The two of them walked across the hall into Wesley and Matthew's room. Sure enough, Wesley was sprawled out on his bed, sleeping very deeply. James shook him vigorously until he woke up; once he was asleep, it was very difficult to wake him up.

"What is it?" Wesley asked lazily.

* * *

"We couldn't have done this in the room?" Wesley whined. "Why way out here?"

"We don't wanna risk being exposed," Matthew whispered. "At least out here there's no one around to see or hear us."

"Here's the plan," James announced. "I'll call her out here, Wesley'll freeze her, and we'll say the spell."

"As usual," Wesley said, "your plans are stupid! I don't even think she'll freeze long enough, since she's apparently so powerful. Matt, come up with a good plan, please."

* * *

Darkness covered the entire area. The moon was high above, but partially shrouded by wisps of clouds, giving everything an eerie glow. James stood in the middle of a dimly lit area, located far away from anyone or anything else. It was a nature trail that was adjacent to the college, but very rarely used. They had ventured to the very furthest point away from civilization, where they were surrounded by a grove of tall trees which blocked most of the moonlight. It was very late at night; they wanted to make sure that they were doing this alone.

"Lina," James called out, "I think we need to talk. Lina! I've been thinking about us lately."

"And?" a voice called out. There was a brief flame and when it vanished, Lina stood in its place.

"And I've come to a decision," James replied, turning to face her.

"I knew you'd make the right choice," Lina said, her expression changing to a smile. "I knew you wouldn't give up on us."

"Except I have," James said. "I don't think that this will ever work. Good and evil just can't be together in this way. It's over."

"Over?" Lina repeated, anger building in her voice. "Over? Damn right it's over!"

She thrust her palm out and a stream of fire arced from it, headed straight for James. He covered his face, but it was of no avail. The fire hit him before he had time to react. He yelled out in agony as the fire burned his entire body. He managed to get out a "NOW!" and then James faded out of sight.

Wesley jumped from behind a tree and flicked his hands at Lina. She froze, but only temporarily. She easily broke through Wesley's power and turned her attention on him. She shot fire at him, but he froze it before it could hit him. From out of nowhere, an invisible force reflected the stream of fire at her and she became engulfed by her own attack. Wesley used his power again and froze the flames that enveloped Lina. Matthew once again performed his "trick." He jumped inside Lina, using his phasing ability, and began to explode her from the inside. Meanwhile, James appeared from behind another tree and joined Wesley to read the spell.

"_End her existence!  
She will cause us no more pain!  
A leaf slowly falls."_

The combined power of the spell, Lina's own attack, Matthew's power, and the power of three (Matthew had also said the spell from within Lina's body) was more than enough to vanquish her. Her body vibrated so quickly that it seemed like she was moving in slow motion. Then, with one final scream, she exploded in a fiery vanquish that left nothing but Matthew and a large leaf, which slowly fell to the ground.

"It was a haiku!" Wesley said, defending himself before either of his brothers could question him. "We were doing haikus in class at the time! Hey, it got the job done!"

"Okay," Matthew said, raising his hands in mock defense, "okay, okay! As long as it worked!"

"Let's find our way home," James said, counting on his fingers. "I think we should get some sleep. A leaf slowly falls."

"Very funny," Wesley said as they hiked through the nature trail back to Oxford College.

* * *

'_A leaf slowly falls…' It must be some kind of déjà vu because I remember when I used to use that phrase every single time I wrote some kind of haiku. It just seemed to fit, no matter what the topic was! Anyways, stay tuned for the final chapter of this story, meaning the final chapter of season one!_


	21. Group Hug

_If it seems like I'm crying, there's a good reason; this is the last chapter of this story… But we all know what they say: when one door closes, another one opens. That said, please enjoy!_

_**Quillsandbolts: **Wesley would do something like that, wouldn't he? And look, he did!_

_**Raya X: **'A leaf slowly falls' has been my trademark line for at least seven years. It just fits wherever you put it!_

_**chyp: **Thanx as usual. I hope you don't feel like you have to hurry and post your story. Good things come to those who wait, you know._

* * *

It was a beautiful spring day as the Oxford College sophomore marched across the Quad to take their seats as the guests of honor, namely, the graduates of the class of 2001. Family members and friends lined the outside seats, while the graduates sat in the center. The entire ceremony was held outside, giving the event an even more beautiful touch.

Wesley and Matthew sat amongst the guests, along with a few of their friends, as they watched their oldest brother from afar.

"I guess this is it," Wesley said.

"Yeah," Matthew replied.

"Did we ever figure out a solution?" Wesley asked.

"Nope," Matthew answered, "but whatever we come up with, I'm sure everything will be fine in the end."

"I hope you're right," Wesley said as their continued to watch the ceremony.

An hour had passed and the dean of the college, Dana Green, had finally gotten to the part everyone had been waiting for, the conferring of the degrees. Despite the fact that they were only Associate's Degrees, the students treated the occasion just as importantly as if they were receiving Bachelor's Degrees. In theory, this was a practice of sorts.

Finally Dean Green announced "James Richard Armstrong" and Wesley and Matthew were cheering along with the rest of James' family, his foster family. It was truly a joyous time for everybody. For once, the three brothers were able to put witchcraft to the side and just enjoy the moment.

One and a half hours later, the ceremony was over and all three hundred graduates threw their mortarboard caps in the air as Dean Green announced for the final time, "Oxford College's Graduating Class of 2001!"

* * *

"Our plan failed," Tenebrion said, pounding the table with his fist. "How did it happen? Everything was planned perfectly."

"We obviously took the unpredictability of magic for granted," Anamalech reasoned.

"Whatever happened," Andras said, "made the youngest right the wrong that should have been."

"He must have gone through time," Ardad concluded.

"And altered _this_ time," Mastiphal added.

"We must not dwell on this failure," Tenebrion said. "If anything, we must work even harder to dispose of the witches. They are becoming more of a threat with each passing day."

* * *

"We're proud of you, big brother," Wesley said as he helped James pack some clothes into a box.

"Thanks," James said, ruffling Wesley's already-short hair.

"We've been thinking, though," Matthew said. "Next year, we don't have any idea about how we'll be able to handle things with the distance factor."

"I'm sure it'll work out," James said. "It's not like we won't be seeing each other again after today."

"Well, maybe," Wesley said. "I'm going back to Texas for the summer. All my family and friends are there, you know what I mean."

"I'm going back to Philly, too," Matthew added. "Looks like we're all going our separate ways again."

"Even so," James said, scratching his head (he was obviously unprepared for his brothers to tell him such things), "we'll still be able to contact each other. We'll always be brothers, right?"

"Right," Matthew said.

"Right," Wesley added.

"Why don't you all move into the house?" a voice suggested.

The three brothers turned around to see Erik and Lauren standing behind them. Unlike normal ghosts, they were both solid in appearance. They looked the same way they did when they met their children.

"The house?" Matthew asked. "Can we do that?"

"What about bills?" Wesley asked practically. "I'm not dipping into my funds anymore!"

"You don't have to," Lauren answered. "Like I told you before, everything's been taken care of. All you have to do is keep it looking nice."

"It _is_ halfway between here and the main campus," James debated. "And we'd definitely have more room."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Matthew said.

"Me, too!" Wesley said.

"Then it's settled," Erik said. "You'll all move into the house when you come back for school in August."

"Before we leave," Lauren said, "we just want to tell you that we're proud of you, of all of you. We knew that you all had it in you to carry on towards your destiny."

"Just always be there for each other," Erik added. "Your connection as brothers is what makes you so strong. Don't forget that."

"Got it," Matthew said.

"Would it be lame to ask for a group hug right about now?" Wesley asked.

"Yes," the remaining four replied in unison.

"But for you," Lauren said, "we'll make an exception."

The five came together in a family embrace that ended the day on a very happy note. The Complete got a much deserved happy ending after a very long few days before, even longer for Wesley. However, those events were lost in his mind as he just enjoyed the company of his family, his real family, as did everyone else. James, noticing that the front door was slightly ajar, flicked his finger and the door closed quietly, just as the latest chapter of their lives had.

* * *

_You know, I was trying to figure out some kind of gimmick to close each season with, and lacking any creativity, this was the best that I could come up with! I like it, though. It's like 'a leaf slowly falls' because it fits. Meanwhile, thanx very much to everybody who read this and the past six stories. I hope y'all all enjoyed them and let's all look forward to the next season!_


End file.
